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Shipping the Last of the Cattle from the Farm

We had to go to the farm in Waurika again last weekend to ship the last of the cattle we had down there. Our farm is on the southern end of the state, less than twenty miles from the Texas line. Our ranch in Osage County, is on the northern end of the state, about thirteen miles from the Kansas line. It’s about a four hour drive from our ranch to the farm, so when we go to the farm, we try to get as much done as possible.

The reason we call it “the farm” is that it is primarily a farming operation. We plant over 3,500 acres of wheat, then use it to graze cattle in the winter and spring. In the warmer climate of southern Oklahoma, the wheat will grow almost all winter long, providing an excellent source of pasture for grazing and fattening cattle.

Grazing cattle on wheat during the winter is common practice for many wheat farmers in this area, but most of them will pull the cattle off in February or March, then go ahead and let the wheat grow so they can harvest a crop. Our wheat farming operation is strictly for grazing cattle. In the spring, when the wheat really starts growing, we just add more cattle. In the fall, you can stock one steer per acre depending on the size of the cattle; that can increase to one-and-a-half to two steers per acre in the spring.

Steers can gain 2.5 to 3 pounds a day on good wheat pasture.

In an earlier post, I’d explained raising calves as part of the cow-calf operation. The farm, on the other hand, is used primarily as a yearling grazing operation, which is the next stage of the cattle cycle. Yearling or “stocker” operations will take calves that have been weaned from their mamas, then grow them. This is the stage where the calf will go from the 400/500 pound range to 700/800 pounds. This is a large part of the cattle business, and there are many ranchers and farmers that specialize in just this aspect. There are also ranchers and farmers like us that do both cow/calf and yearling operations.

We do yearlings both on the farm and on our home ranch. We use our own calves from our cow/calf operation and we will also buy calves from other ranchers. You can buy cattle at sale barns, through video auctions, internet auctions, order buyers or directly from other ranchers. Most of the calves are from spring cows and are weaned in the fall, so we buy and receive them in the fall. The hardest part of a yearling operation is receiving them—getting the calves in and keeping them healthy.

When they first arrive, we process them. This means we brand, worm and vaccinate them. Then they are kept in traps (smaller pastures) where they are trained to come to a feed truck and monitored every day to make sure they don’t get sick. (One of the many skills you need as a cowboy is the ability to identify sick cattle; the earlier you can identify and doctor one, the better it is for them.) Any sick cattle are gathered to the pens and doctored. If there are just a couple of sick animals, they’re roped and doctored (which just means given a shot of antibiotics) right on the spot. After a week or two, when the cattle have begun coming to a feed truck, they are moved to larger pastures. But they will still need to be monitored daily for a month or more to make sure they stay well.

The great part about a wheat-grazing operation is that the wheat is ready to graze in late November or early December. So as soon as the cattle are straightened up and ready to go, there is pasture ready for them. The hard part about a wheat grazing operation is stocking it right so that you don’t run out of pasture or let the wheat get too big. It’s a balancing act to keep the right number of cattle on the wheat. The hard part about the yearlings we run on our main ranch is that they have to be kept and fed through the winter until the grass starts growing in April. The good part is that they are usually sold in July or August, which is typically a good time to market cattle.

Personally, I like having the benefit of running yearlings on both wheat and grass. It provides a little financial diversity. The cattle on wheat will be sold from March through May, so it gives you come cash flow in the spring of the year when you can use it after a long winter of expenses. It also spreads out your marketing window to help weather any market blips that might otherwise hurt you.

The hardest part about running cattle for both types of operations is getting enough cattle in the fall and being able to afford buying the cattle. We will typically buy around ten thousand calves in the fall, and in today’s market that’s not cheap. As is the case with most ranchers, all of our equity is tied up in land, so we don’t have cash sitting in the bank at any given time. Fortunately, we have a good banker we have worked with for over twenty years. One of the first lessons my father taught me is that you need to have a good, longterm relationship with a lender who understands agriculture. Ranching is a capital-intensive business, and one of the keys to being able to make it in the long run is to have good banking relationships.

Most larger yearling operations, will borrow the money needed to buy their cattle. This introduces an element of risk. When you borrow money to buy cattle that you’re going to sell within 4 to 8 months, you take a risk that if the market goes down during that time, you can not only not make money, which is bad enough, but you could also lose money, which is much worse. The other side is that if the market goes up during that time, you can make really good money. The key, like any business, is that you have to be in it for the long haul. There will always be ups and downs, but if you’re in it for the long term, they will hopefully even themselves out.

Saturday was a good day. This year has been an up year in the market, which makes shipping much more fun. (We’ve had our share of years where shipping wasn’t as much fun.)

We shipped 1,564 steers Saturday.

We gathered them from two pastures. In this one, there were about 900 steers.

I know I’ve said it before, but early morning gatherings are the best.

One thing about shipping is that after you line up the buyer and the trucks, there is no calling it off. So even though it was supposed to rain that morning, we didn’t let it stop us.

See, here comes some more trucks. There’s no putting it off until tomorrow.

It wasn’t a hard rain, so it was actually kind of nice. It kept the morning cool and made it easier on the cattle. We had our usual crew of kids (Our younger daughter had a soccer game, so she got a pass for the day.)

We also had some day workers. A little extra help is always nice.

Man, that pink jacket stands out. But she was quick to point out that “It took eight of them to watch the other side, but just me and my pink jacket to watch this side.” Here, we’re gathering them from a 640 acre pasture into a smaller trap that leads to the pens.

Once they’re in the trap, it gets a little easier.

They just follow the feed truck on to the pens.

Except this time, he got a little too far in front of us and because there were so many cattle, the front part made it to the pens and turned around before we could get the back part up there. Here, Miss Pink Jacket, Josh, and cowboy Todd are stopping them from running off.

We got them turned around now, back towards the pens.

Once in the pens, I usually weigh and Pa-Pa handles the loading of the scales, but I left him some of our very top hands.

After a while, some of them abandoned him—they wanted to go in the house and dry off. But these two stuck it out.

Actually, I told them they had to stay and help.

It doesn’t look like it bothered them much.

Todd, our cowboy at the farm, counted them off.

Tim helped Allen (the buyer rep) go through the cattle after we weighed them.

Oh, and while he usually stays on the ranch, we brought Josh to the farm on this trip. He and Colt loaded trucks after Tim and Allen had gone through them.

On they go.

We were finished by 11:00 AM. It was like a well-oiled machine…or trailer gate.

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Comments

A well-oiled machiine, indeed! Thank you MM for another enjoyable and informative post about the cattle business. You may need your own blog soon, if this keeps up.

denise

I started reading The Pioneer Woman blog about a year and a half ago. I love how blogs can take me to places in the country I would probably never have a chance to visit. We all live in the same country but lead such different lives. Thanks for sharing a bit of yours with us! Who knew cattle could be so interesting. I also love how it is all about family.
denise

Gill N.

A question: since the farm is four hours away, which I’m assuming you don’t travel to on a daily basis, who lives at/watches/works at the farm when you are on the ranch?

anne cummings

Nice job and very interesting.

Theresa in Alberta

Once again VERY interesting!……Even though having the rain is a little annoying to work in, it is good to see the land so nice and green.

cheladechile

Truly fascinating from one who has never been on a farm or a ranch for that matter. Experts – they do it well!

Catherine

My dad buys and ships cattle as well at Foy Reynolds Cattle Company in the Panhandle of Florida. These photos remind me of him and the boys that work there. 🙂

What a beautiful BIG open space in the world where you live and work! Nothing better than working together and for a common cause. Thank you for such a substantial well-written info post!

GraceCali

Good question.

Patsy from Illinois

I didn’t know you did farming as well as ranching. I live in Illinois which is also big farming and cattle country. And I just want to tell you that pink jacketed girls are just as capable as blue or tan jacketed men. Pink just brings out the complexion better. Lol. Also, does it bother you that Ree posts pictures of your ….uh….. rear end? Men in jeans do look good. I am 61 but can still appreciate it.

Tonya J

Shipping cattle has to feel like such a rewarding day. Cowboys don’t get a paycheck on Fridays. So to work hard and know there will be a chunky check at the end has to be happy days. Good job!

Mandy P

I understand that you wouldn’t have as much interaction at the farm with the calves being that it’s four hours away. However, do you ever get attached to a calve making it hard to ship her off? Like Daisy?

Mandy P

oops…*calf* singular…grammatical errors because it is before noon…..your schedule would be the death of me and my intellectual comments!

Wow…..love the detailed “agriculture” stories! I grew up in a small town in central PA, but I’m now more of a city girl. Even if your children elect not to stay in the “business”, they’re learning wonderful lessons that will serve them well in adulthood.

cathy

Do you still have cattle operations in australia?

Paula Boyer Kennedy

Good stuff, Ladd. You are renewing my faith in ranching and agriculture. I have read a lot of books lately about “green” agriculture and what the system does wrong. You are showing me how traditional methods, done in a modern way, can also provide good stewardship of the land. Please keep writing.

http://cherylbarker.blogspot.com/ Cheryl Barker

I like pink jackets on cowboys! Or guess I should say cowgirls… Whichever, the pink sure stands out in the crowd! 🙂

Karen

I’m with you Patsy… I’m 60 and love all the Wrangler pictures !

Karen

I love these posts from MM – so informative and educational. Thank you!!

Alice H

I love reading your posts MM. It makes me really appreciate all the hard work that you guys do. And then it also makes me so angry at all the haters who say you guys are so rich and that PW shouldn’t be blogging, blah blah blah. I think you guys are amazing people. I would love to lend you my 2 older kids (13 year old girl, 11 year old boy) to come work. They could seriously use a good lesson in hard work! I would love to come help cook and I am also a great dish-washer!!